


Lay Lady, Lay

by givemesomewings



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: M/M, Valentine’s Day, this is pretty much all fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givemesomewings/pseuds/givemesomewings
Summary: “Doesn’t matter what we call ourselves, Red. All that matters is, I’m yours. For as long you’ll have me, I’m yours.”
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	Lay Lady, Lay

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Black History Month! Here’s a belated Valentine’s Day fic. It’s loosely inspired by Magnet’s cover of Lay Lady, Lay by Bob Dylan.
> 
> *
> 
> Frank plans a surprise Valentine’s Day dinner for Matt.

Matt stood in front of his apartment door, keys in hand but unable to stick them in the lock just yet.

He’d already smelled the mouthwatering scent of a sirloin steak seasoned to perfection and what he’d assumed was a bottle of wine. The heavy aroma of farm fresh grapes complimented the meal nicely and made Matt’s stomach grumble the more he inhaled it.

He’d been momentarily jealous of who ever was getting such fine treatment on the most romantic day of the year, but once he realized the smell was coming from his own home, the only thing he felt was speechless.

He slowly opened his door and pushed inside, all the unfamiliar stimulants hitting him at once. The quiet voices of a man and a woman spilling out from the old radio he kept in his kitchen. The ancient contraption was left by the previous owner of the apartment and had gone largely unused for as long as Matt could remember, but now it was playing a very sultry rendition of one of his favorite Bob Dylan songs.

He felt a soft substance under the heel of his shoes, a very subtle difference from the feel of his wood flooring but still noticeable nonetheless.

He could also smell a hint of smoke, but nothing else was cooking and he could hear that the oven wasn’t on. The buzz of electricity that came with the use of the overhead lights was missing, too.

Lastly, he heard the steady pounding of a heart. It was the only thing that felt familiar to Matt in the apartment and by far the most welcome.

Frank was just standing there, one hand clasped around his wrist as he waited for Matt to approach him. He was wearing a very light coating of aftershave; Matt grinned when he realized it was the one from his own bathroom. Normally Frank didn’t bother wearing anything besides the scent of store brand soap, coffee, gun oil, and the occasional bucket of blood; either his or someone else’s. But tonight, all of that was missing. It was almost like Matt was standing in front of a whole new man, except not really.

“You told me you had to work today,” Matt said by way of a greeting.

“I did say that. Doesn’t mean it was the whole truth,” Frank said with an audible smirk. “I took a half day.”

“Cheater,” Matt smirked back.

He finally made his way to Frank, stopping once he was less than inch away from the other man. He reached out and placed both hands on Frank’s chest, slowly running his hands over the silky material of a jacket. A suit jacket.

Matt’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you wearing a _suit_?” he asked brightly.

Frank grunted in what was supposed to pass for a laugh. “Maybe,” he said. “Try not to sound so surprised, yeah?”

“I don’t know if that’s gonna be possible,” Matt said. He toyed with the lapel of Frank’s jacket for a second longer before smoothing it back into place. Matt moved his arms up Frank’s shoulders and then wound them around his neck. Frank wrapped Matt up in a loose hug.

“What’s this all over my floor?” he asked. “Rose petals?”

“Hibiscus,” Frank corrected. “They’re scentless. I was gonna do roses but I remembered how you said the smell of ‘em was too strong. Plus, it was gonna take too long to have the petals freeze dried and delivered so I had to go with the next best red flower.”

“Hmm,” Matt hummed. “Creative. And thoughtful.” He said the words softly, his lips only a breath away from Frank’s. “Wish I could see them.”

“It looks alright,” Frank said. Matt could hear the smile in his voice. “I knew you wouldn’t much care what color they were, but it just didn’t feel much like Valentine’s Day without a little Red.”

“I’m sure it looks more than alright,” Matt said, voice still just as soft. He belatedly remembered the smoke he smelled earlier. “Candles?”

“On the table,” Frank confirmed. “A couple in the bathroom and the bedroom, too. Also scentless.” The smile was still there, accompanied by a hint of smugness. He was speaking in that same gravelly tone, but Matt could hear it. Frank was proud of himself.

“The bedroom, huh?” he asked sultrily. “Big plans for after dinner? Which smells amazing, by the way.”

Matt unwound his arms from Frank’s neck and moved them down to his biceps. He lightly massaged the muscles. “Where’d you order from?”

Frank made a small noise deep in his chest and his arms relaxed the slightest bit. “Didn’t. I made it.”

Matt stopped massaging and gaped at Frank. “You did not.”

Frank let out a full on laugh that time. He squeezed Matt a little more tightly, pulling him even closer than he already was. “You know, I’m gonna start getting offended if you keep bein’ so damn shocked by everything.”

“I’m sorry, Frank,” Matt laughed back at him. “But how was I supposed to know you could cook? Or that you owned a _silk suit_?”

Frank bent down and placed a kiss to his earlobe, then buried his face in Matt’s neck, inhaling softy before he spoke.

“Well, I actually didn’t own the suit, not until yesterday. Curt hooked me up,” he said directly into Matt’s neck. “But I’ve known how to cook for years. Just never had the time until recently.”

“Wow. I’m not sure what to say,” Matt spoke, his chin resting on Frank’s shoulder. “Thank you, Frank. This is... wow.”

Frank was swaying a little bit as he hugged Matt, his head still tucked against Matt’s neck. He grunted in acknowledgment. “You sure? Was afraid I was doin’ a bit too much.”

There was a slight stutter in Frank’s heartbeat, betraying a nervousness Matt had never seen in him. Gunning down gangs the size of small armies or beating down armed thugs with nothing but his fists made Frank feel right at home, but a romantic dinner was a little too out of his comfort zone for him to take it all in stride. Matt could understand why.

Relationships were scary enough on their own, but they could take on a whole new level of terrifying if you had a history like Frank’s, or Matt’s for that matter; though he was slightly better equipped to deal with intimate situations like these.

“Hey,” Matt said quietly. Once Frank straightened to his full height and pulled his head back to look down at Matt, he spoke again. “It’s perfect. Everything is perfect.”

He tipped his head up and placed a kiss on Frank’s waiting lips. It lasted a while. Long enough that when Matt finally pulled back, they were both a little breathless.

“Was wonderin’ when you were gonna do that,” Frank said against his lips. He stole another kiss, then another, before he released Matt.

He unwrapped his arms from around Matt but reached down and grasped his hand. “Why don’t we eat, yeah?”

“Don’t mind if do.”

They made their way to his dining table and Frank urged Matt to take a seat. Once he was down, Frank stayed on his feet. He grabbed the wine bottle and poured a healthy amount in both of their glasses.

Then he moved into the kitchen and plated both steaks, along with small helpings of asparagus and mashed potatoes. He brought both plates into the room and set one down in front of Matt and the other in front of his chair. Then he sat.

“Frank, you really didn’t have to-“

“Nope, Red. Don’t you start,” Frank interrupted. “I did this because I wanted to. Because you deserve it.”

Frank picked up his knife and cut into his steak, seemingly unaware of the effect those few words had on Matt. Matt tried and failed not to blush as he picked up his own utensils.

“I can’t wait to think of a way to top all this,” Matt smiled as he took a bite of his steak. He moaned at the taste.

“Though I have no idea how I’m gonna beat this dinner,” he stopped himself before he could stuff the entire thing in his mouth. “Where’d you learn to cook like this?”

Frank chuckled around his own mouthful. He swallowed before he spoke. “Don’t you worry, Red. You can make it all up to me once you see what I picked out for you in there.”

Frank jerked his head toward the bedroom and Matt laughed. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” Frank said around a bite of asparagus.

Matt just shook his head. “I’m almost afraid to go in there now.”

He took a sip of his wine. It tasted expensive; way more costly than anything he’d ever had, at least. But Matt knew there was a large number of drinks that fell in that category. “Seriously, Frank, where’d you learn how to make this?”

“My ma taught me mostly. Cooking and catholicism are pretty much the only things she taught me, actually. Only one of those things seemed to stick, though.”

“Don’t give up hope yet,” Matt half-joked from behind his glass.

“Yeah well,” Frank continued, “Ma always said that women loved a man who could cook, that when I grew up and got married I wasn’t gonna have my wife doing all the heavy lifting in the kitchen.”

“Seems like sound advice,” Matt smiled.

“Yeah, it worked out okay,” he started. “Once, I was lucky enough to end my tour right before Maria was set to have Lisa.”

Frank swallowed another bite. “She was so pregnant she could hardly walk, and I’d be up at all hours of the night making her anything from chicken parm to a poor man’s duck confit.”

“Really?” Matt asked, he couldn’t help the laugh that accompanied his question.  
Before tonight, Matt would never have been able to imagine the other man moving around anybody’s kitchen to prepare an elaborate meal.

“If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’,” Frank accepted his incredulity with a nod and a grin before he continued.

“I remember a few times, during holidays and get-togethers and stuff like that,” he said, ”We’d split up the cooking duties when it was our turn to host, and she’d get so jealous whenever somebody would compliment my dish more than one she’d made.”

Frank laughed to himself as he finished the story. He looked up to see Matt smiling warmly at him.

Matt didn’t always know what to say in the few instances Frank mentioned Maria around him. At the worst of times, it made him feel a little awkward and shamefully insecure. But some times, like now, it filled his chest with warmth to hear Frank’s voice light up with such joy.

It was miles away from the sadness Matt used to hear in his voice when he mentioned his family, and it was nice to see how far Frank had come on his journey forward. And seeing him happy would always make Matt happy.

Moments like that were so rare that it disappointed Matt when Frank drained the rest of his glass and stuck his fork back in his plate. “Anyway,” Frank grunted.

Matt refused to let the moment go without a fight. “What would Maria make?”

It was a beat of silence where Frank probably looked up from his plate, watching him from across the table. He seemed to recognize what Matt was doing, the encouragement he was giving Frank. Frank cleared his throat before he answered.

“Uh, ziti,” he said. “She made a lot but ziti was her specialty.”

He took another bite from his plate, a small smile on his face before he continued. “And let me tell you, this steak right here didn’t hold a candle to that ziti.”

Matt chuckled. “I believe you, Frank.”

There was another moment of a more comfortable silence before Frank spoke up again. “So, how was work?”

“It was okay,” Matt said in between bites. “We had a pretty light day. Foggy left early to get ready for his date with Marci and we all decided to head home after that.”

“I actually invited Karen out for dinner since I thought you’d be working. Just as friends,” he tacked on.

“Obviously,” Frank said. Matt was sure the word was accompanied with an eye roll.

“Obviously,” Matt parroted. “But she turned me down. Said that a pity date with her boss would be even more depressing than going home alone.”

Frank chuckled. “I get that.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed. “Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful. How was yours?”

“Wasn’t too bad. After I left the site, I picked up the flowers, the wine, and the food. Stopped by Curt’s to get the suit. Then came back here and put it all together.”

“And what did Curt have to say about the romantic evening you planned? I’m sure he was surprised.”

“Nah, not really surprised. He’s been pushing me to do something like this for a while. You know, be a ‘normal’ boyfriend and all that shit.”

Frank wiped his mouth and set his napkin to the side. “But he was giddy as a damn schoolgirl once he found out I was finally taking his advice. He was actually the one who told me which flowers I should order.”

Matt faced Frank, a smile and the blush in his cheeks competing for which one would spread across his face faster. He cleared his throat and turned away to collect himself before Frank noticed.

“You, uh,” Matt said, ”I don’t think you’ve ever called yourself that before. My boyfriend.”

Frank shrugged, supposedly nonchalant but Matt could feel the heat radiating from his skin once he reached across the table.

Frank gripped Matt’s hand in his own, running his thumb back and forth over Matt’s knuckles. “Doesn’t matter what we call ourselves, Red. All that matters is,” Frank swallowed. “I’m yours. For as long you’ll have me, I’m yours.”

Matt just nodded. He squeezed Frank’s hand back. “I’m yours, too, Frank.” He didn’t trust himself to say anything more than that.

Frank nodded. “Let’s toast to it then,” he picked up his glass with his free hand and held it in the air. “Here’s to you, Red.”

Matt picked up his own glass. “Here’s to us,” he corrected. “And to the best steak in all five boroughs.”

Frank chuckled as they clinked their glasses together then sat up from his chair. He leaned across the table to kiss Matt.

Matt sat forward a little to accept it, reveling in the way Frank’s newly trimmed beard tickled his chin. Frank went to sit back down after the kiss but Matt rose from his own seat to keep it going.

He lowered back into his chair as Matt moved around the table and bent to press their lips together again. He held Frank’s face in his hands as their lips touched. It went on for a moment longer before Frank pulled Matt down into his lap.

Matt laughed as he fell, landing squarely on Frank’s legs and resuming the kiss. It went on for another minute before Matt pulled back.

“Maybe we should move this to the bedroom,” he breathed. “I’m curious to see what you have picked out for me.”

“It’s actually just some body armor,” Frank admitted. “I found out where Barracuda was holed up. Figured we could hit him later tonight.”

Matt perked up. “You did? Since when?”

“Got the rest of the intel I needed last week. Had David confirm it this morning.” Frank adjusted his hold on Matt’s waist. “Thought that taking him out would make one hell of a present for you.”

“You’re damn right it would.” Matt kissed him one more time before he made to get out of Frank’s lap. He was just about to get up when he realized he’d all but forgotten their current situation. The feel of Frank’s warm hands pressed on each of his hips an insistent reminder of the _other_ plans they had for tonight.

“Hey, what time is it?”

Frank looked down at his watch. “Six o’clock.”

“I think we have a little time before we need to go on patrol.”

Matt rose from Frank’s lap. He stood in front of their shared seat and held out his hand for Frank to join him. Frank reached out and took it.

Matt led them slowly toward the bedroom, using his free hand to loosen the tie he’d forgotten to take off earlier.

“So is this my present?” Frank asked. Matt could feel Frank’s eyes ogling him as they walked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Matt laughed. “At least until I can plan a better one.”

“Can’t think of a present much better than this, Red,” Frank said. “You’re lookin’ pretty sexy in that suit.”

“Wait until you see what I have on _under_ the suit.”

He didn’t give Frank any time to guess as he entered the bedroom and pulled Frank in after him, the joy Matt felt as soon as he’d walked through the front door growing steadily each moment that he and Frank spent together.

Though he doubted he’d ever be able to make Frank feel half as happy as he did this evening, Matt was looking forward to spending today and everyday afterward attempting to do just that.

**Author's Note:**

> i originally planned to write a far more... *ahem* self indulgent version of this fic inspired by some fan art i saw a while back, but this is the only fic i have to offer as of yet.
> 
> but anyway, i hope i did these characters justice! hmu @ maniskordaze on tumblr!


End file.
